How the Red Sox brought new tech to baseball's oldest park

Lauren Brousell |
Sept. 3, 2015

Boston Red Sox IT staff faced the unique challenge of deploying public Wi-Fi without disturbing the original structures or feel of the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball. The initiative is just one part of an ongoing effort to collect and analyze fan data, and to provide the fan experience of the future.

Red Sox IT team homers at Fenway Park

Diehard Red Sox fans might be surprised, or disappointed, to know that when it comes to the business of technology, the Red Sox play nice with the rival New York Yankees. In fact, it's common practice for the Red Sox and other MLB teams to share IT knowledge. For example, the Red Sox recently hosted a meeting of MLB IT leaders to talk about the technologies and techniques that have the most potential at ballparks, as well as the applications that might resonate with fans.

"What tends to work for one club, tends to work for another, so I think what fans are going to see is a real leap forward in terms of the kind of fan services and amenities they expect from organizations like MLB," Shield says.

In the future, the organization hopes the lessons it learned from the Wi-Fi and data warehouse projects, combined with ongoing knowledge sharing between teams, result in the mobile device becoming the main point of contact between teams and fans. For everything from seat upgrades and digital ticketing to social media and rewards programs, mobile devices will be "sort of your one-stop shopping for all things when you're here at a wonderful place like Fenway," Shield says.